Art-Jottings In Art-Studios.

And noAv a Avord or two as to the " manipulation . " Why did the Greeks use the Avord

artist had his Kavr-npiov ( chafing-dish ) , and AA'hen the varnish Avas dry , it Avas heated by fire , " usque ad sudorem " ( to the SAveating-point ) , ancl it Avas then rubbed AA'ith AA'ax candles ancl polished AA'ith napkins . This method the Greeks called / cawns ( burning ) , and AA'hy should not this have been the meaning of the iveKavo-ev . Amongst artists " vehicles " ancl " varnishes" are used someAvhat interchangeably , ancl it is therefore reasonable to suppose that " ceris pingere" ( to paint Avith Avaxes ) ancl " pictiu-am inurere " Avere

the same methods . So , at least , says Pliny , ancl he adds , " There Avere anciently two methods , one cera ( Avith Avax ) ancl another on ivory Avith a cestrum ; then came a third , boiling the AA'ax ancl painting ships at once with it , AA'hich was a lasting mode , so that neither sea , Avhid , nor sun destroyed it . " It appears , from another passage , that the ships Avere painted in the same Avay as pictures AA'ere burnt in ( " eerie tinguntur iisdem coloribus , ad eas picturasqua ) inuruntur ; alieno parietibus generesed classibus

, , famihari " ) . So then there Avere four distinct methods of encaustic painting . ( 1 ) Mixing the colours Avith AA'ax and thinning them Avith a liquid at the moment of painting ; ( 2 ) placing distinct pieces of coloured Avax on ivory , like a mosaic , and uniting by means of a heated cestrum ; ( 3 ) boiling the Avax and using it hot ; and ( 4 ) softening the Avhole p icture , after completion , by heating it Avith a " cauterium " ( chafing-dish . )

Both Pliny ancl Vitrnvius describe the mode of Avorking , the latter b y far the most minutely ancl accurately . "After your AA'all is dry and smooth , " he says , "liquefy punic AA'ax a little by the fire ancl temper it Avith oil . Then A'arnish , ancl AA'hen dry-heat it Avith a chafing-dish ancl rub it smooth . Pliny does not settle the discoverer of this art , but seems to incline to Aristides or Praxiteles . In any case he says Polyguotus ancl Nicanor , Lysippus of Egina and Pamphilus , the great master of Pausias , practised it ; the last-named , Pausias , seeming to have excelled in it to the greatest degree .

Various attempts have been made in modern times to revive it . About the middle of the last century Count Caylus and M . Bachelier , ancl in 1792 Miss Greenland , made various experiments AA'ith a A'iew to its resuscitation . The Count laid the result of his studies before the Academies of Painting and Sciences at Paris , Avhilst the Society for the Encouragement of Arts at London aAvarded Miss Greenland a golden pallette . ' The subject soon dropped , to be reviA'ed , hoAVOA'er , in Germany under the patronage of the

late King of BaA'aria , Avho had some important Avork executed in this style of art . The mode employed Avas to grind the colours aud lay them on Avith a " vehicle " composed almost Avholly of wax . Miss Greenland dissolved gum-arabic in Avater , aftera-arcls adding gum-mastic , which AA'as dissolved by stirring and boiling , and AA'hen the mixture reached the boiling point she added the Avax . After painting the picture , she passed a thin coating of melted

Avax over it , Avith a hand brush , ancl then drew an ordinary flat-iron moderately heated over the surface . The picture , Avhen cool , AA'as rubbed Avith a fine linen cloth . The German method is somewhat similar , but some other ingredients are used ; among these potash A \ dth the wax ; whilst in place of an iron being passed over the face of the picture , the Avax is brought to the surface by a vessel containing lire being held at a little distance from itThisof course nearlresembles the ancient method

. , , more y of the chafing-dish . Encaustic painting , so-called , is never likely to come into very general use , for it cannot be compared to ordinary oil-painting either in brilliancy of colouring , facility of execution , or durability : AA'hilst for the decoration of large surfaces it cannot for an instant compete with its sister-art , " painting in fresco . "